Landing a wild trout hole

Wearing waders and carrying a net and fly rod, California Fish and Game scientist Russell M. Barabe Barabe tried hard to locate trout along a section of Boulder Creek on Tuesday. / photo by John Gastaldo * U-T San Diego

Wearing waders and carrying a net and fly rod, California Fish and Game scientist Russell M. Barabe Barabe tried hard to locate trout along a section of Boulder Creek on Tuesday. / photo by John Gastaldo * U-T San Diego

The backcountry sunshine had warmed Boulder Creek to bathing temperature last week and dried up part of its stream flow, but its shady ponds still harbored some of the last wild trout on the San Diego River.

The fish survived several years of drought, and some may have outlived the Cedar Fire of 2003. On this day, they glided in the dwindling ponds of the Descanso-area stream.

Through recent land purchases, the San Diego River Park Foundation aims to preserve their fragile yet tenacious existence.

“This critical little stream, like so many of ours up there, is just begging for enough water to sustain a population of fish,” said Gary Strawn, a volunteer with the foundation and vice chair of the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

As part of its plan for preserving the San Diego River from the headwaters in Santa Isabel to the outlet at Ocean Beach, the foundation seeks to fill gaps in land protection along the waterway’s course. It bought two parcels along Boulder Creek that it will use for education, habitat conservation and research.

The properties were small, private in-holdings on vast stretches of national forest and state park land. But they could have altered the water flow and ecology of the entire stream if they were developed.

One of the properties, a 2.35-acre parcel dubbed “Fisherman’s Camp,” was the site of a burned-out home and had county permits for rebuilding, Strawn said. The foundation wanted to restore the site to its natural conditions.

“I didn’t really expect to see wild trout,” said Rob Hutsel, executive director of the foundation. “But we went up there and saw more than a dozen trout on the property.”

In October, the foundation bought the parcel for $112,500, Hutsel said. It plans to invite school and community groups to help plant native vegetation and set up water monitoring equipment there.

The foundation bought the other Boulder Creek site in February for much less — $50,000 — because the 11-acre site couldn’t be developed as easily.

On a sunny day last week, Strawn trekked through overgrown brush at Fisherman’s Camp to the streambed. Water trickled down braided channels, forming small pools a few feet deep. Last year, he said, trout swam and spawned in the shallow stream. This year the creek is drier and fish are scarce.

“I was sad that the stream dried up and the fish died off,” Strawn said. “But we were so surprised that they were even there.”

Upstream, trout flickered among a bed of weeds in the water hole known as “Miner’s Pond.” Nearby, California newts crept across an underwater shelf and a squadron of crimson and cobalt dragonflies, some bigger than hummingbirds, zipped overhead.

The balmy water temperature and shrinking stream course illustrated the resilience of the coldwater fish, but they also reflected the many challenges these fish face in what may be the last wild-trout stream in the watershed.

Nearby Cedar Creek once housed trout as well, said Russell Barabe, a fisheries biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. It’s not clear whether any of the fish survived the Cedar Fire.